A victim of an unfounded defamation campaign targeting a family of Okanagan fruit packers has spoken out on how the accusations have impacted their lives.
Speaking on Kelowna City Councillor Mohini Singh’s podcast, Chai and Chat with Mohini, president of Sandher Fruit Packers, Prabhtaj Sandher said online posts and comments made by blogger Daryl Grant MacAskill – also known by his online alias “Ace Ventura” – have affected the lives of himself and his family on a day-to-day basis.
Allegations against the Sandhers range from alleged involvement in criminal activity, such as drug trafficking and involvement with the Sinaloa Cartel, to claims that the family is connected with designated terrorist organizations such as the Khalistan Tiger Force.
Sandher denies MacAskill’s claims on the podcast.
“(The accusations) It makes it hard to go out,” Sandher said, adding he feels the need to address the allegations and blog targeting his family in most conversations with people around Kelowna.
“Whenever you walk into a room, and you meet someone that you haven’t really seen in a while, you always have it in the back of your head that this person’s probably read this content online,” he said.
On top of the social implications, the Sandhers have spent a year and a half in a legal battle against MacAskill that was settled in December 2025.
“We’ve made significant progress within the legal system,” Sandher said.
The courts sided with the Sandhers after MacAskill’s failure to participate in the legal system, as well as issued a warrant for the arrest of MacAskill so he can answer in court.
Despite the judgment, MacAskill has not stopped posting on his blog, Gangsterism Out, which is active as of Jan. 4.
“Although there is a warrant out for his arrest, it seems like nothing can really be done. We’re just helpless at this point,” Sandher said.
Sandher felt as though his family was targeted due to their Indo-Canadian heritage. He said he also thinks MacAskill is trying to extort his family by offering to take the defamatory posts down in exchange for money.
In the December judgement, Justice Gibbs-Carsley also found that MacAskill could be using his blog to extort people based on an email exchange where MacAskill requested money from the Sandhers to stop posting his content.
The Sandhers’ lawyer, Nathan Wells, said the incident is happening at an interesting time in the online world, where validating reporting and people’s claims is becoming more difficult.
Still, Wells said MacAskill’s claims amount to defamation.
“There’s a reputable harm that’s being caused here. This is a business and individuals that are being targeted for reasons we can’t comprehend, and that is causing them actual harm,” Wells said.
“Ultimately, if you’re spreading lies about somebody that’s harming and tarnishing their reputation, that’s defamatory, and that’s a cause of action that we can pursue in law.”
Sandher wants more federal laws to protect people from acts similar to what happened to his family.
“My family’s put in years of hard work, and to see their reputation be tarnished just like that is absolutely heartbreaking,” he said.
Sandher believes the fight with MacAskill is not over, saying he will continue to defend himself and his family against the online attack.